In July 2014 Musica representatives Tim Ainslie & George Fothergill were thrilled to meet with Professor Stephen Hawking who has expressed an interest in Musica’s work. Musica plan to meet with the Professor again in the near future to discuss in more detail the work Musica does with people who have disabilities of any kind.

The CYDS Project in Leiston is about young people having a chance to do a creative activity that they wouldn’t normally get the chance to do. The activities Musica provided involved music production, songwriting and performance.

Saxfest is a one day community festival in Saxmundham – Musica ran a number of open music workshops, it was a busy day but there were many smiling faces.

We had great feedback from the event organiser:

“I wanted a bit of time to tell you about the success of our 2nd Saxmundham Music Festival. Your workshops really had great feedback from everyone I have spoken to. Believe me, I do know a lot of people around the Town. The workshops showed people from any age what could be done with your expertise in assisting them ‘Live their dream’ of playing something musical, especially at a festival. It was proven by the amount of people who visited you and showing their love of music. I believe you rely on funding as much as we do and I can only say we shall do our utmost to repeat what we did this year in 2016. Your marquee showed professionalism at the best and I will take no hesitation to asking your organisation to come back next year.”
Terry Barrow.
Event Organiser
www.bfra.org.uk

Students referred to Parkside have usually refused to attend ‘mainstream’ education for a variety of reasons. They will have been selected by Educational Psychologists or Educational Welfare Officers as appropriate for consideration. Student cases are then presented to an Admissions Panel at Parkside and the most ‘needy’ young people are allocated a place. In August 2015 2 Students successfully completed the Rockschool Music Practitioner Qualification – Level One. Both students achieved Distinctions !!

Ongoing music workshops working with Key Stage 3 – 4 Local Authority EOTAS (Education Other than at School) provision catering for the needs of young people who have been excluded, or who are at the point of exclusion from mainstream education.

From October 2014 Musica have been running Monday evening workshops for Mencap in Essex. The workshops have been run by workshop leader Ali Henty, an ex-Musica student who became a volunteer, then a paid workshop assistant and is now a full time Musician and Musica Workshop Leader.